HD Radio for PDs
At the NAB Radio Show yesterday, Bob Struble, iBiquity Digital CEO, gave a solo presentation on the latest progress on the HD Radio front, along with what the future holds for HD radio revenue-generating options, how multicast formats can compete with satellite and ways stations can promote HD in their markets.
Speaking to the PDs, Struble noted the now-heavy competition from online, iPods and satellite: "There are now all kinds of mobile information and entertainment that are really out there trying to drag your listeners in...in the future every car is going to have an MP3 player with 10,000 tracks in the trunk. XM and Sirius are going to have a more local feel. Future generations of their receivers are going to be able to show where you are located and automatically air local information without you having to search it out-all within the scope of the FCC licenses. So your job is changing, and changing dramatically."
He added, "We think HD Radio is going to be an important tool for you to address these challenges, remain competitive and for us to get back on the growth curve for the industry. The powers that be in the industry-the Mark Mayses, The Joel Hollander, the Jeff Smulyans, have agreed and have acted. You are experiencing an extremely active rollout of HD Radio across the country. It's going to change your job. We want to make sure you're positioned to take advantage of it."
Struble told RBR/TVBR that each FM station will be able to add up to four music multicast channels and up to eight if used for News/Talk. Do the math: If a city has 20 FM stations and each one coordinates with the others to add four unique multicast channels, that will be 100 total HD offerings to compete with satellite. The cost? Free. Get involved with Joel Hollander/Mark Mays/Jeff Smulyan's HD Radio alliance and see how to coordinate such offerings across the country. Working together, terrestrial broadcasters can put together quite a punch.
He mentioned now is the time to experiment-let PDs try a variety of different ideas. "This is where the next great formats are going to be hatched." He mentioned WRIF-FM2 Detroit and its local bands only multicast, a station in Miami's Dance-only multicast and others.
Struble, for effect, flashed a lone number on the A/V screen: "750,000,000," asking everyone in the audience if they knew what that number represented. "The total number of promotional dollars spent so far by XM and Sirius. That's roughly 750,000,000 more than radio has spent on promoting HD Radio so far."
He made it clear that the need is there to get more consumers buying the receivers. "We have the on-air piece, we don't have the consumer piece yet. We need to be clapping with two hands."
That has to be driven by the stations and promotions. He gave some examples so far and offered tips (the password-protected "HD Radio Playbook") via his website www.ibiquitydigital.com: HD Radio giveaways, liners, DJ mentions, driving listeners to the website and retailers, etc.
Looking to the future on HD offerings for broadcasters, Struble mentioned customized color-coded traffic navigation screens indicating road speeds, supported by scrolling text from an advertiser; song rewind; press a button and a song playing downloads to you computer; and a buy button for instantly ordering products from the car.
The bottom line, said Struble, is "You guys have assets you don't how valuable they are. You have spectrum, and spectrum is the most valuable resource. The amount people are paying to get new spectrum is outlandish. You guys have the spectrum, it's basically free. You can build out the entire radio industry to digital in less than a billion bucks. The industry is going to change and you can change with it."
Good Morning - Thanks for your loyal RBR readership. The only trade publication you need to stay informed.
